Frank Vickery Productions

Review from "Trivial Pursuits" Saturday 9th May 2009 8.00 pm Swansea Grand Theatre

It was fantastic to see Frank appear in his own play for the first time since "A Night On The Tiles" in 2007 and great to see an appreciative packed theatre witness a truly riotous evening of comedy and slapstick of the highest order penned by the master of observational Welsh character comedy. Frank as Teddy dished out some great one liners with machine gun delivery and fluent regularity which had the audience in stitches. it is hard to believe  that "Trivial Pursuits" first appeared in 1993 as it is timeless and very funny with all the characters memorable. Sue Roderick plays Joyce superbly and is very animated and a precious talent, Richard Tunley, Michelle McTernan, Gareth Bale, Marilyn Hodge, Pat Wright, Laura Bridgwater, Marie Arnold and Christina Richards complete the line up and gel together incredibly well to create a very settled happy company which exudes over the footlights. Frank's first play was performed at Swansea Grand Theatre in March Of 1989 and 20 years on, they just get better and better. Very Funny!

Ian Parsons

His previous plays performed at The Grand Theatre are listed below

Franks next production “Loose Ends”  is at Swansea Grand Theatre from

4th to 8th May 2010

Box Office 01792 475715

Synopsis

Marlene is a mother.... a very interfering one. She has an almost unbearable influence on the lives of her children, Darren and Louise, who are forever finding themselves in the middle of situations their conniving mother has contrived. Louise is married and now Marlene decides it's time to pull out all the stops and get Darren hitched too.

On a weekend break in a caravan in Porthcawl, Marlene sees her chance, Bev, who owns the caravan, would be the perfect match for Darren! As Marlene plots and schemes to match-make for one child – the other one arrives on the run from her husband - just as Marlene reveals the devastating reason for her over-protective and sometimes infuriating behaviour.

This bitter-sweet comedy is classic Frank Vickery fare – packed with hilarious one-liners and moments of pure slapstick – you’ll laugh till you cry!

Review of Tonto Evans at Swansea Grand Theatre Tuesday October 27th 2009

Frank Vickery’s latest offering”Tonto Evans” is a delight to watch, and the dialogue is peppered with so many hysterical and memorable one liners that it is hard to keep up, the only criticism I would have of the night was the lady sitting next to me who laughed so hard throughout the performance I feared for her life at one point!

Richard Tunley’s performance as the policeman son, John was at times chaplinesque and he is developing into a very seasoned comic actor. Also memorable was the character of Wendy played superbly by Lorraine John whose common threaded line of “whorritiss” brought the house down each time. Ably supported by Lee Gilbert, Maxine Evans and Iris Griffiths - whose voice in the role of Ray’s wife bears an uncanny resemblance to another great favourite of Swansea Grand Theatre, Gladys Morgan. this production should not be missed and is at times hysterically funny. How Frank Vickery could play dead for 40 minutes while chaos and slapstick ensued around him is beyond my comprehension and his accomplished penmanship creating the interactive dialogue, which would not be out of place in any Welsh home is beyond compare.